


Real

by Beth Harker (Beth_Harker)



Category: Newsies (1992)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-23
Updated: 2015-04-23
Packaged: 2019-09-29 21:11:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17211026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beth_Harker/pseuds/Beth%20Harker
Summary: Sometimes Mush doubts his own existence.





	Real

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger warnings for unreality and implied child neglect.

Selling together that day had been Mush’s idea. So had selling in Central Park, and stopping for a while to sit in the grass at two o'clock in the afternoon, when the sun was at its hottest. Mush had his papers shoved up against the tree, and he’d made a pillow of sorts out of them. He’d tucked his eyes under his arm to block out the daylight. Blink smiled as he watched him.

“You’re gonna wake up with the front page story smudged all over your face and arm.”

Mush gave a short laugh, but didn’t move or open his eyes. “It’s a lucky headline. Blood Bath on the Brooklyn Bridge. Practically sells itself. We’ll be eating good tonight, won’t we Kid?”

“You’re too pretty to be all covered in words about folks getting hurt and killed.”

Mush turned over onto his back. He looked up at Blink thoughtfully. “Guess I was hoping they exaggerated it,” he admitted.

“Yeah. They probably did.”

Mush lay down for a few more minutes, watching the sky. Blink hoped that he was thinking about clouds, or how blue everything was in the summer. Mush was the best person for talking about those kinds of things. It always made Blink feel almost like god’s green earth was an okay place to be.

“Hey Kid?”

“Hmm?”

Mush moved into a sitting position. His palms rested on the cool, green grass. “Why do you think people only wanna buy the papes when bad stuff happens? That bridge got repaved last week. The railings looked real nice, too, after they painted ‘em, but nobody wanted to read about it.”

“People wanna hear about adventures. They wanna do the nice stuff, and hear about the bloodbaths, so they can be happy they ain’t in the bloodbath.”

Mush made a face like he was thinking it all over. “I guess. I’m happy nobody’s murdering us right now, that’s for sure, but I’d rather read about nice things than bad ones.”

Blink nudged Mush with the end of his foot. “Extra Extra, Pair of Newsies Enjoy Summer Day. Contemplate Springing For an Ice-cream Later.”

Mush grinned. “I like that. Contemplate’s a catchy word, and I been doing a lot of that lately.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Mush plucked at the grass. He took out a blade or two, then lay them back down. Their were dandelions everywhere, but he left those alone.

“You gonna give me the headline?” Blink teased.

“Do I gotta say it like a headline?”

“Nah. Is it good news or bad news?”

Mush was up to about six uprooted blades of grass now. Blink considered asking him what that grass had ever done to him. He also considered grabbing a hunk of grass himself, and throwing it at Mush to see how he’d react. Either action would end the moment. Blink waited, still and silent.

“It ain’t bad or good. It ain’t even news. It’s scary, I guess. Only if I think about it too much.”

“You got nothing to be scared of,” Blink said automatically. “Anyone tries to hurt you, I’ll hit them so hard they’ll wish they was never born.”

“I know. Thanks, Kid. It ain’t like that. Also I didn’t say I was scared. Just that some of the things I think about is scary. I’m never scared.”

“'Course you ain’t. You gonna tell me what it’s like?”

“You’ll laugh.”

“Will not.”

“Okay,”. Mush said. He leaned forward to meet Blink’s eyes suddenly and intently. “It’s like this - how do I know if I’m real or I ain’t?”

True to his word, Blink didn’t laugh. He did make a face. He couldn’t help it. “You’re just real because you is.”

“Yeah, but how do I know?”

“Well, I’m talking to you for one thing. That’s because you’re real.”

Mush nodded, “But what if someday everybody stopped seeing me and talking to me? Sometimes it don’t seem like many do. I tried to go back to the orphanage last week, you know the one I lived at when I was really little? None of the Sisters remembered me. Not one. I was there for years and years. So anyway, I’ve just been thinking what if everybody just stopped looking at me and talking to me. Would I still be here?”

Blink almost told Mush that he was the strangest person he knew. He almost told Mush that he always surprised him. That wasn’t the point though, and Blink knew it.

“You don’t gotta worry about that,” Blink promised. “On account of I’m never gonna stop looking at you and talking to you. Come on.”

Blink got up first. He grabbed on to Mush’s hand to pull him to his feet too, and Mush’s hand was real and solid. He looped his arm over Mush’s shoulder, and it was solid and warm.


End file.
